Endoscopy is a medical field in which internal features of the body of a patient are viewed without the use of traditional, fully-invasive surgery. Endoscopy is now widely used to perform minimally-invasive surgical procedures, such as arthroscopy and laparoscopy. A basic endoscopy tool is the endoscopic camera system. An endoscopic camera system generally includes a scope that is inserted into the body of a patient, a camera that is optically and physically coupled to the scope, and a high intensity light source that is normally coupled to the scope by a fiber optic cable to introduce light into the body. Images acquired by the camera are typically displayed on a conventional video monitor.
The camera is normally coupled through a flexible transmission line to a camera control unit (CCU), which in turn is coupled to a base unit. The CCU processes video data provided by the camera head to generate images, which are coupled through the base unit and displayed on a video monitor. The camera control unit may also be coupled to various multimedia and surgical devices. Multimedia devices may include a printer, a video cassette recorder (VCR) and an image capture device (ICD). Surgical devices may include, for example, insufflators and arthro-pumps, or other devices. Each of these devices must be monitored and controlled during a surgical procedure.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional endoscopic control system 100. The base unit 101 is coupled to CCU 102, light source 103, printer 104, VCR 105, ICD 106, arthro-pump 107 and insufflator 108. Status information from each device is coupled to the base unit where it is overlaid on the video image from the CCU and displayed on the video monitor 109. The base unit 101 may have control panel 110 for local control of devices 102-108. Some device functions are also controlled by voice commands using a voice-responsive control system (VCS) 111, which is part of the base unit as shown in FIG. 1. Voice commands are input into a microphone headset 112 worn by the surgeon and coupled to the VCS 111. The VCS employs speech-recognition techniques to generate control signals in response to the voice commands. A handheld control device 113 is cabled to the base unit as an alternative means for controlling devices. The control device is normally used by a nurse to assist the surgeon during operations.
This conventional system configuration has several shortcomings. Because the handheld control device is tethered to the base unit, the mobility of the nurse in the operating room is reduced. Also, the handheld control device has a fixed configuration and cannot be used with more than one base unit, so if it fails the entire system will become unusable. Also, if any problems occur with the operation of the system, it has to be taken out of service for problem diagnosis and repair.